Natasha Lomas
Writer
The Latest from Natasha Lomas
Privacy researchers devise a noise-exploitation attack that defeats dynamic anonymity
Privacy researchers in Europe believe they have the first proof that a long-theorised vulnerability in systems designed to protect privacy by aggregating and adding noise to data to mask individual id
US legislator, David Cicilline, joins international push to interrogate platform power
US legislator David Cicilline will be joining the next meeting of the International Grand Committee on Disinformation and ‘Fake News’, it has been announced. The meeting will be held in Du
Instagram says growth hackers are behind spate of fake Stories views
If you use Instagram and have noticed a bunch of strangers watching your Stories in recent months — accounts that don’t follow you and seem to be Russian — well, you’re not alo
Microsoft tweaks privacy policy to admit humans can listen to Skype Translator and Cortana audio
Microsoft is the latest tech giant to amend its privacy policy after media reports revealed it uses human contractors to review audio recordings of Skype and Cortana users. A section in the policy on
Huawei pushes back launch of 5G foldable, the Mate X
If you were desperately ripping days off of your calendar until you could get your hands on Huawei’s $2,600 5G foldable, the Mate X — which was originally slated to launch next month ̵
WebKit’s new anti-tracking policy puts privacy on a par with security
WebKit, the open source engine that underpins Internet browsers including Apple’s Safari browser, has announced a new tracking prevention policy that takes the strictest line yet on the backgrou
Facebook’s human-AI blend for audio transcription is now facing privacy scrutiny in Europe
Facebook’s lead privacy regulator in Europe is now asking the company for detailed information about the operation of a voice-to-text feature in Facebook’s Messenger app and how it complie
Facebook denies making contradictory claims on Cambridge Analytica and other ‘sketchy’ apps
Facebook has denied contradicting itself in evidence presented to the U.K. parliament and a U.S. public prosecutor. Last month the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee wro
London edtech startup pi-top sees layoffs after major contract loss
London-based edtech startup pi-top has cut a number of staff, TechCrunch has learned. According to our sources, the company has reduced its headcount in recent weeks, with staff being told cuts are a
Deliveroo is exiting the German market
U.K. on-demand food delivery startup Deliveroo is pulling the plug on its service in Germany. The startup expanded into the market more than four years ago. But in an email sent to users it writes tha
Most EU cookie ‘consent’ notices are meaningless or manipulative, study finds
New research into how European consumers interact with the cookie consent mechanisms which have proliferated since a major update to the bloc’s online privacy rules last year casts an unflatteri
Amazon’s lead EU data regulator is asking questions about Alexa privacy
Amazon’s lead data regulator in Europe, Luxembourg’s National Commission for Data Protection, has raised privacy concerns about its use of manual human reviews of Alexa AI voice assistant
Apple is under formal antitrust probe in Russia
Make way for another antitrust investigation into big tech. Step forward Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), which has opened an official probe of Apple — following a complaint lo
The UK’s National Health Service is launching an AI lab
The UK government has announced it’s rerouting £250M (~$300M) in public funds for the country’s National Health Service (NHS) to set up an artificial intelligence lab that will work to ex
Twitter ‘fesses up to more adtech leaks
Twitter has disclosed more bugs related to how it uses personal data for ad targeting that means it may have shared users data with advertising partners even when a user had expressly told it not to.
DeepCode gets $4M to feed its AI-powered code review tool
DeepCode, a Swiss startup that’s using machine learning to automate code reviews, has closed a $4M seed round, led by European VC firm Earlybird, with participation from 3VC and existing investo
Facebook still full of groups trading fake reviews, says consumer group
Facebook has failed to clean up the brisk trade in fake product reviews taking place on its platform, an investigation by the consumer association Which? has found. In June both Facebook and eBay were
Libra, Facebook’s global digital currency plan, is fuzzy on privacy, watchdogs warn
Privacy commissioners from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Australasia have put their names to a joint statement raising concerns about a lack of clarity from Facebook over how data protection safegu
UK watchdog eyeing PM Boris Johnson’s Facebook ads data grab
The online campaigning activities of the UK’s new prime minister, Boris Johnson, have already caught the eye of the country’s data protection watchdog. Responding to concerns about the sco
Just Eat and Takeaway.com reach agreement to gobble each other
The boards of Just Eat and Takeaway.com have reached agreement to combine their two European food delivery businesses. The pair of publicly listed companies announced they were in talks to combine the